The real monastic walks through life with a barefooted soul, alert, aware, grateful, and only partially at home. ~ Joan Chittister

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Coffee Black & Egg White

(...or, Weight Watchers: Week Two Review)

Starting Weight: 208.6

Current Weight: 201.0

Weekly Loss: 4.8 lbs

Loss to Date: 7.6 lbs

Don't you just love the first few weeks of concentrated weight loss? It seems so easy in the beginning as it just melts away... too bad I know it gets tougher!

I've been doing really, really good at the caffeine reduction. In fact, yesterday was a caffeine-free Saturday! This morning I had to indulge, but I kept it black, sans cream and sugar. I think I'm developing a taste for it, which is something I was worried wouldn't happen. I'm sure it helped that I created a breakfast masterpiece to accompany the boiled coffee beans - my first successful (and overpacked) omelet!

My 7-point breakfast was made up of:

2 eggs (for the record, I kept the yolks)

1/4 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese

chopped red pepper

chopped celery

chopped mushrooms

chopped cherry tomatoes

fresh sliced peach

... and it was delightful (if I do say so myself)!

Last night I met friends at Damgoode Pies, one of my favorite eateries, and put myself to the test. Eric asked how I counted my "numbers" in these situations, so I thought I would explain that here. Weight Watchers lists several restaurants and the points of their foods on their website, but they by no means have all of the national chains recorded, much less the local dives. So what do you do?! Well, in part this is where the "flex points" come into play, and in part this is where discipline and decision making kick in. I get 26 points a day that I am supposed to use up, but I also get 35 flex points that I can use (or not use) in different ways throughout the week. I try hard to budget out 26 points each day, but I don't kick myself if I have to use a couple points from my flex allowance (after all, you're not supposed to go "under points", either).

Since I don't go out every night, I ususally have plenty of flex points available to make social situations smooth sailing. However, because I am trying to make wise decisions, I don't use my flex points as a license to binge. Most everyone who has eaten with me at Damgoode could place my order for me: six-inch stuffy, chicken and spinach, with pink sauce (and, depending on the time of day and itinerary for the evening, a Shiner Bock). However, that is a lot of cheese and twice the crust and I am learning to make healthy and wise choices. Had I really, really wanted my standard I would have ordered it, recorded it, and lived with the points. Since I didn't really, really want it last night, I experimented with a new selection: six-inch, thin crust, veggie pizza (of course, I still opted for the pink sauce). When I got home, I looked up the closest approximation to that pizza size and style, and went with the point value it gave me. Maybe I was over or under a few points, but I could live with that.

It was the same kind of decision that came into play this morning. As my roommates were making some darn tasty looking omelets with bacon and cheese, and biscuits on the side, I had a choice to make. One, I could eat what they were eating and just make adjustments with my other meals throughout the day (sometimes, I go with that decision and it is perfectly fine). Two, I could fix some Kashi cereal and milk instead (which would have been a rather depressing option for a Sunday morning, in my opinion). Three, I could get creative and prepare a similar meal in a fashion more befitting of my weight loss goals. Thus, the super-veggie omelet with a side of fresh peach and black coffee.

So it wasn't the IHOP country omelet with pancakes... but it isn't going to take two weeks to work off, either!

3 comments:

I've been going for the "just eat less junk" approach, but counting points would probably be a better strategy. It wouldn't be too hard for me either, considering I mostly eat the same four foods over and over.